So you like the look of Apple’s embiggened iPad, and now you’re wondering if it can replace your regular laptop. Unfortunately there’s no simple yes or no answer — it all depends on what sort of user you are, and that boils down to how you use your laptop.

For the purpose of this article, let’s assume your laptop is your primary machine. We’ll examine what the iPad Pro can replace, the apps you can use to help you get stuff done, and the short-falls of depending on a mobile operating system full-time.

What the iPad Pro Can Do

The iPad Pro is a much larger tablet than the regular iPad Air, and the tiny-by-comparison iPad mini. Starting at $799, it comes with an optional (but essential) Smart Keyboard for $170, which doesn’t require batteries or a Bluetooth connection. It also folds relatively flat when not in use, and props the main tablet up in a non-negotiable typing position for getting work done.

In this respect, it’s like a much thinner version of your laptop with a touchscreen. Typing is comfortable, the keyboard is responsive, and it’s laid out just like a MacBook so there’s little to no adjustment period (for Apple users, at least).

It’s also an iPad, which means it crunches through the things that already feel great on your iPad. You also have the option of using many apps in true, 50-50 split screen mode which allows you to multitask properly for the first time. Take notes while you browse, chat with friends while you watch YouTube — you get the picture. So far, so laptop.

Advertisement

Web Browsing

The iPad was essentially born as a giant web browser, and this functionality formed a big part of the hype surrounding its launch. While many saw it initially as a bigger iPhone, it soon developed into a platform of its own with a proper touchscreen web browser that wasn’t confined to a tiny screen. The iPad Pro is more of the same.

Safari for iOS is still one of the most accomplished mobile browsers out there, integrating Apple’s share sheet and the many extensions it supports, and syncing with handy features like iCloud Keychain and Reading List across platforms. Apple even added support for ad-blockers in iOS 9, which means iOS Safari is nearly as capable as Safari on OS X.

Most web apps I’ve used play nicely with mobile Safari on the iPad Pro, and the 4GB of RAM under the hood mean it’s possible to interact with many tabs and other apps without having to reload pages all the time.

Email & Social

iOS comes with a fairly competent email client, and it’s now been optimized for the iPad Pro’s larger screen to use alongside other apps. This means you don’t have to stop what you’re doing in order to tap out a quick email. The full-size Smart Keyboard makes typing far more pleasant, allowing you to fire off messages quicker than ever before.

Office Applications

For use as a portable office, the iPad Pro has got a lot going for it. The aforementioned Smart Keyboard makes it possible to type for long periods, at speed, and make use of keyboard shortcuts for oft-used functions. The iPad Pro’s 10-hour battery life puts my MacBook Pro to shame, and if you need to sign and annotate documents, then the Apple Pencil might be worth the $99 asking price.

If you’re used to Microsoft’s way of doing things and you absolutely can’t live without Office, then you’ll be relieved to know that fully-functional versions of Microsoft’s work suite are available for the platform. The only drawback is that you’ll need an Office 365 subscription in order to use the apps on an iPad Pro, because Microsoft treats devices larger than 10.1″ like standard desktops (Office is free on regular iPads and iPhones).

Note-Taking & Drawing

Paired with a multitasking-ready note-taking app (Evernote is a good choice10+ Apps that Are Better on the iPad Pro10+ Apps that Are Better on the iPad ProWhile the iPad Pro can run any iPad app, some are better than others at taking advantage of all that the Pro offers.Read More), the iPad Pro is a born note-taker. Pin a window to the right of what you’re working on and use the Smart Keyboard to type notes or grab whole sections of text using two-finger cursor control and paste using keyboard shortcuts. Assemble blog posts while researching, plan school or business projects while consulting PDFs, chat to team members in Slack or via Messages while taking minutes — all with enough screen space to see what you’re doing.

It’s surprising how focused an environment the iPad Pro creates. Unlike OS X, with its cluttered system tray and row of dock icons all begging for your attention, iOS strips everything down to the barebones. All you see are the two apps you’re interested in, with intermittent notifications at the top of the screen (disable these for an even more productive workspace).

If you’re the sort of person who still prefers handwriting your notes, then you’ll love the Apple Pencil with its incredible degree of accuracy and automatic palm rejection. Evernote is another app that works well with handwritten notes, though it’s also a good place to sketch your ideas if that’s your thing too.

It should go without saying that the iPad Pro is an accomplished digital canvas for illustrators and anyone else interested in drawing on their tablet. The Apple Pencil is twice as sensitive as your finger in terms of input, can be used to shade when coloring thanks to a built-in accelerometer, and it’s pressure sensitive to boot.

Where the iPad Pro Struggles

While the iPad Pro handles the above common tasks with ease, there are a few things that you may find the tablet-hybrid struggles with — particularly if you want to depend on it as your only machine.

Movies & Music

Depending on your media, you may be able to watch videos and listen to your favorite tunes on your iPad, but if your files are on external drives, then you may have problems accessing them. VLC for iOS handles just about any media file that iTunes won’t, but mounting external hard drives isn’t something the iPad supports. That means you’re still tied to a Mac or PC for storing media files.

If you’re used to using Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Apple Music, or other similar streaming solutions, then you’re in luck. But for locally stored media, including optical formats like BluRay and DVD, you may be in trouble.

That said, as a professional you may find your choices are somewhat limited. DJs will be delighted to see that Algoriddim’s djay has grown into a professional package with the arrival of djay Pro ($20), but transferring music can be a hassle, and support for obscure platforms like FLAC still isn’t there. You can’t plug in an external hard drive to access your tunes, and the iPad Pro only comes with 128GB of memory — which means a lot of file juggling. If you want a top tier DJ package, you’ll still need something like Traktor Pro or Ableton LiveThe Best DJ Software For Every BudgetThe Best DJ Software For Every BudgetGood mixing software can make all the difference in your performance. Whether you're using a Mac, Windows, or Linux, every level of skill and budget is catered for if you want to start DJing.Read More on a Mac or Windows PC.

Photo Editing & Serious Art

Photoshop Lightroom for iPad is free and great — it provides you with an almost-identical set of tools as those provided in Adobe’s cherished Camera RAW tool provided with the full version of Photoshop, and it even handles RAW files. Most cameras can be mounted by the iPad Pro, which means you can import images straight from the source and work on them in the field. For quick edits and occasional shooters, it’s a fantastic tool to have at your disposal.

Unfortunately if you’re doing more than a bit of tinkering, the iOS version of Photoshop Lightroom doesn’t quite cut it. While you can tweak various parameters using sliders, you can’t apply selective adjustments to certain parts of the image. You can’t correct for lens distortions using preset profiles, nor can you perform more detailed color adjustments. The killer for me was not being able to perform batch operations, like exporting a series of edited photos to JPEG for sharing on the web. Everything needs to be done step-by-step, which is a shame because the iPad Pro’s hardware can probably handle it all.

The same argument can be made for serious artists. Procreate and Pixelmator are exceptional tools considering they cost less than $10, but if your workflow depends on Adobe Photoshop or another top-tier graphics editor like Corel Draw, you’re going to be left hungry for features. The iPad Pro doesn’t support peripherals like graphics tablets, though interestingly, the iPad Pro and Pencil can be used as a graphics tablet for your Mac using an app called AstroPad ($10).

Video Editing

The iPhone now shoots 4K video, and as a result, Apple’s iPad Pro can also be used to edit 4K video via the wonders of iMovie for iOS ($5, but also free with every iPad Pro). One of the main problems here concerns space — the iPad Pro can only house 128GB of data, and if you’re transferring 4K (and even HD) video for editing, you’re going to burn through that pretty quickly.

iMovie itself is only a hobbyist’s video editor. It’s a polished and user-friendly bit of kit, and the latest version even supports keyboard shortcuts if you’ve plugged a Smart Keyboard in, but it’s never going to replace Lightworks, Final Cut, or Adobe Premiere Pro. If you want to get serious about your video editing, you’re going to need a computer, some external hard drives, and a powerful non-linear video editor to learn and master.

Again, the iPad Pro probably has the raw power to handle a serious video editor like Premiere, but its current maximum capacity of 128GB holds back its potential for serious projects — particularly if you want to use it for other things too.

Other Things to Consider

By now, you probably have a pretty good idea if you can ditch your laptop in favour of an iPad Pro, but there are a few more considerations to make. Even if you’re not a serious artist or photographer who produces music on the weekends and is thinking of starting a YouTube channel, it’s worth keeping in mind that you’re going to be limited if ever you do require a bit more oomph in these departments.

If you’re dependent on any old or specialist software that’s unavailable on iOS, you’re going to have to work around it either by using web apps (which can behave erratically at times) or by finding (and potentially buying) more software. Many iOS apps do feel like “dumbed down” versions of their OS X or Windows counterparts, and many (like the WordPress app) offer even less in terms of features than comparable web versions.

You’re also going to have to depend on a machine that, by design, is restrictive in terms of what you can and cannot do. Unlike Windows and OS X, which still afford a relatively high degree of customization to the user; iOS is Apple’s most-guarded fortress. You can’t change your default web browser, there’s no Finder or Windows Explorer equivalent for browsing files, and you can’t escape Apple’s grip by installing another OS.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment

Name *

Email *

MrX

February 6, 2016 at 12:28 pm

No.

Any article that use a question as its title usually can be answered no and is a sign of bad journalism. It's also a sign that the journalist doesn't believe in the story or isn't knowledgeable enough to truly answer the question.

We are getting closer to the transition from laptops to tablets, as the article stated, some time ago tablets were mostly used as web browsers and now they are capable of much more. Give it a little more time and current laptops will look clunky compared to smooth and thin tablets capable of doing basic office work to more demanding creative work.

It actually is a simple yes or no answer if you change the device in mind. Watch:

Can the surface replace your laptop?

Yes.

Simple, see?

Also..PC classic games? I play them all native on my Windows tablet. Shoot I run MAME emulator on my tablet which gives me the actual classic arcade games like PC man, donkey kong, mortal jim at..do that on your iPad pro.

Oh and btw..Surface and similar Windows tablets are darn good tablets too, provided you define "tablet" as "a touch device for both basic consumption and expandability for serious work." If however you define tablet as Apple and Google say you should define it, as "touch device confined to limited App Store apps for simplicity", you obviously won't agree with me.)